The All England Club looks set to win its lengthy battle to build 39 new courts on the former Wimbledon Park golf site after the Greater London Authority (GLA) recommended that the project should be approved.
The AELTC’s plans have been the subject of considerable opposition from local residents, and the expansion was referred to the GLA after Wandsworth Council rejected the proposal last November. Merton Council initially approved the plans.
On Thursday, officers at the GLA recommended that the deputy mayor should grant conditional planning permission for the scheme, which also involves building an 8,000-seater stadium that would act as a third Wimbledon show court, at a public hearing next Friday. In a 221-page report, the GLA officers concluded that it had found “no material considerations that are considered to justify the refusal of consent”. They accepted there would be a loss of open space but stated that the “balance is clearly in favour of” approving the scheme.
The expansion will allow the All England Club to host the qualifying competition for Wimbledon on site, as is the case at the three other Grand Slams. As things stand, the qualifying competition takes place in the comparatively humble surroundings of the Roehampton community sports centre a few miles away.
Local opposition groups like Save Wimbledon Park have said that the expansion would leave the area as a “huge industrial tennis complex”. Jonathan Morrish of Save Wimbledon Park said that this latest development “is deeply distressing to local residents whose views haven’t been taken into consideration”. The Labour MP for Putney, Roehampton and Southfields, Fleur Anderson, said she and local leaders were “extremely disappointed” by the report.
The GLA’s report and recommendation now puts the decision in the hands of Jules Pipe, London’s deputy mayor, after Sadiq Khan excused himself from the process three years ago, having expressed support for the proposals. The full planning hearing will take place next Friday, with Save Wimbledon Park protesters promising to be “out in force”.
Should the plans be approved, Angela Rayner, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, could intervene. She will have seven days, as per planning rules, to consider Pipe’s decision.
But it would be a surprise now if there was a late obstacle.
Deborah Jevans, chair of the AELTC, said: “We believe that these plans will deliver one of the greatest sporting transformations for London since 2012. The land that we propose to enhance has been used as a private members’ golf course for well over 100 years and, as a core part of this project, we will create 27 acres of beautiful new parkland, free for the public to access and enjoy.”
(Simon Bruty/Anychance/Getty Images)
